Monster Jam Battlegrounds

I went looking for something to recommend to monster truck fans and found one of the most consistently panned licensed games of the mid-2010s instead. Monster Jam Battlegrounds was developed by Team6 Game Studios, the same studio behind the infamously rough FlatOut 3, and that pedigree tells you most of what you need to know before you even boot it up. On paper the content list sounds reasonable. You get 23 licensed trucks including Grave Digger, Max-D, and Monster Mutt, spread across 45 tracks built around three modes: Skill Driving, Stadium Events, and a Stunt mode focused on destruction and big air. Five authentic Monster Jam arenas are represented, including Sam Boyd Stadium. Stars earned in each event unlock further content, and a rewind mechanic lets you undo botched landings. There are online leaderboards to chase if the solo content runs dry. The bones of a decent arcade racer are all technically present. The execution is where everything falls apart. Reviewers across multiple platforms consistently flagged the physics as broken rather than merely arcade-loose. Stadium racing requires crawling at a fraction of full speed to maintain any steering control, which is the exact opposite of what a monster truck game should feel like. Air controls either don't register properly or don't exist in any meaningful form, making landings a matter of luck. Collision geometry is unreliable, with walls occasionally letting trucks pass straight through. Level assets are sparse and repeated to the point of distraction. Load times logged by reviewers on older hardware stretched well past a minute per event, with additional wait screens on exit. The game shipped with these issues and no significant patch record exists to suggest they were ever addressed. The only real praise anyone mustered was for the speed of unlocking trucks and cosmetic upgrades, and even that came with the caveat that the trucks handle identically regardless of which one you pick. It is singleplayer-only, so there is no local or online co-op to soften the rough edges with a friend. The entire experience can reportedly be completed in four to five hours, which is about as much time as most reviewers were willing to give it before walking away. If you are a younger kid who just wants to see Grave Digger on screen and doesn't mind chaotic, unpredictable physics, there is a very narrow case for it at a steep discount. Anyone looking for a genuinely fun monster truck game on PC should look elsewhere. The Monster Jam license has had better moments, and this is not one of them.

Alex · Scout Team

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